Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple

My mission: To cook 5 recipes from Cooking Light Magazine each month. Preheat the oven, get out the Pam and make some coffee because we're making some french toast!

This is recipe 1 of 5 for the month:

Coconut French Toast with Grilled Pineapple

I don't normally cook breakfast. I don't know the correct way to break an egg or even cook an egg. I usually end up burning them so the idea of french toast appeals to me since it requires a bit of burning. I substituted the sugar for Spleda because 1/4 of a cup of sugar makes me feel like I'm going to become a diabetic right after breakfast.  The recipe calls for you to mix everything together in a shallow dish but that seems insane since you have to stir everything together and that sounds like it can get messy. I put everything in a bowl and then transferred it to a dish although looking back I could have just left everything in the bowl and dipped the bread in there. 

Grilling the pineapple was fun. I didn't have a clean grill pan so I just used a regular pan and it worked out fine. There's really nothing to it. 

Finished Product: Fantastic! However, I feel a lot of the credit should go to the bread. I picked up a french loaf of bread in the morning and it's just so light and fluffy. It was perfect. The pineapple added some sweetness to the french toast that I rather enjoyed. I actually didn't even bother using maple syrup because the pineapple was just the right amount of sweet. If you don't like pineapple I'd recommend using some syrup but you would be missing out. The coconut at the end was another little twist that ensures I will make this one again and again. Everyone should try this one next weekend. 

Sautéed Shrimp with Sherry and Chilies

My mission: To cook 5 recipes from Cooking Light Magazine each month. Clean out the dish washer, grab a knife and seriously clean out the dishwasher because it wasn't working properly. I pulled out a stray asparagus and I haven't had asparagus in weeks!

This is recipe 5 of 5 for the month:

Sautéed Shrimp with Sherry and Chilies

I don't cook seafood all that often. I should but I don't. Part of the reason is that I just dont know the difference between cooked and cooked to death so I was excited for this one. The recipe called for poblano chilies but I don't live near whole foods or any other market that knows what that is so I purchased these guys:

Now, I have no clue what these are called. When I was buying them I asked someone what the name of these peppers were and they couldn't tell me. All I knew was that they were peppers and I was assuming they were hot. So I chopped up three of these suckers and even though they didn't come close to a cup of peppers I figured this was enough. NOTE: I should have just googled the poblano chilies because I'm pretty sure my market has them although their signage told me otherwise.

I dump the chilies and the shallots into a large pan (I should have just used my wok. Woks are much cooler to use for dishes like this) and let it cook in the oil for a few minutes then I added the shrimp and paprika. I didn't measure this part because it's paprika and who cares? I'm not going to sit there and measure 2 teaspoons of paprika like a nerd. I just used enough to get on all the shrimps (NOTE: Since I had no date tonight I used half the desired amount of shrimp. I figure shrimp isn't that great reheated for lunch tomorrow). 

After the shrimp are cooking in there for a good 5 minutes I transfer everything to a dish and get started on the sauce. I dump the sherry and OJ in the same pan wait for it to boil then add the butter and oregano. Wait for the butter to melt then slide the shrimp back in there.

I served this dish with Goyas' black beans and rice and a beer.

Verdict: Spicy! Holy hell those chilies were intense! Other than that it was great! The sauce had a lot of heat but it wasn't overpowering. The shrimp were cooked well and the taste of shrimp wasn't hidden by the rich sauce. I'd make this one again with the right chilies.



Potatoes Two Ways

My mission: To cook 5 recipes from Cooking Light Magazine each month. Clean out the dish washer, grab a knife and put on some music because we're making potatoes!

Cooking Light Magazine is a great resource for anyone who wants to cook healthy and delicious food. I strongly recommend you bookmark their page (and this one!) and start cooking! If I can make edible food then everyone can.

Recipe 3 out of 5 for this month is: New Potatoes with Parsley and Saffron
I was excited to finally use some saffron threads I brought home from Egypt for this recipe. I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do with them until now.  This recipe is super easy. All you do is dump all the ingredients together in a pot and cook for 20 minutes. Pretty simple, right? Well I managed to fuck it up somehow. Either that of this is a terrible recipe.

Look how pretty that saffron is! I only used a pinch of these. Oh, I was supposed to use a dash apparently. What does that even mean? I will never know if I used too much or too little because I have no idea of what a dash of saffron is as opposed to a pinch. This is why I am not a chef. That and the fact that making the same dish over and over and over exactly the same way sounds so very difficult.

In the ingredients go! When they come out, nobody knows! Actually in twenty minutes.

Finished Product:

Remember how beautiful these potatoes looked in the pot? So full of life! So red! The parsley looked crisp and beautiful! Well that shit is over! We are here now! My potatoes are mushy and flavorless. Off the top of my head I can think of 7 better ways to make potatoes than this recipe.

Verdict: Bland, boring and borderline offensive. I will not be making this again and I wish I didn't waste beautiful potatoes on this recipe.

Recipe 4 out of 5 for this month is: Truffled Roasted Potatoes!

Another easy recipe! Pretty much just throw everything into a pan and throw it into an insanely hot 450 degree oven until browned! So easy! And this time? I didn't mess it up! I actually used a lot more garlic in this dish that was called for in the recipe. I love garlic and I wasn't going to be making out with anyone that night so it worked out. I put several cloves of garlic in the pan in addition to minced garlic. I love roasted garlic and I'm happy I did this because the minced garlic got kinda burnt in the 450 degree oven.

Note: The recipe calls for Truffle Oil. There are some things you should know about me. One of them is that I do not own truffle oil. Things I do own: Magic Bullet blender, stupidly big television and several Mets jerseys. Truffle oil is just not on my radar. I will substitute truffle oil with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Before:

After: 

 

Note: The potatoes lost their red coloring but unlike the potato dish above it didn't matter because these potatoes are crispy and delicious.

Final Verdict: Outstanding! I will be making this dish many more times and maybe I'll pony up and get some Truffle Oil as well!

Cooking Light Test Kitchen: Cheese-Stuffed Chicken and Asparagus

My mission: To cook 5 recipes from Cooking Light Magazine each month.

I recently ordered a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine and I want to cook as many of the recipes I can. They have a great website that lets you search all the recipes in the magazine. Here are the 3rd and 4th dishes I prepared for the month of March:

Herb and Goat Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Just looking at this recipe is intimidating. I have to slice open a breast and make a pocket, I have to use something called "panko" and I have use wooden toothpicks to seal in the filling. It's a little much for this culinary dope, but I must say: It was relatively easy! Just combining the parsley and mint with the goat cheese and the panko (which is a fancy way of saying bread crumbs by the way. I bought an Iron Chef edition of Terraki panko. I liked it.) in a small bowl was easy as could be. Slicing the chicken breast open was annoying because I thought I was going to just slice through the whole damn thing, but I actually did a great job. I stuffed the chicken with the mixture, however I used a half a cup more panko than the recipe called for. I like to taste crunchy more than gooey with my chicken. I then used the toothpicks and sealed them up as best as I could (which wasn't that good, but nothing tragic happened. It's nice to know it doesn't have to be perfect for this recipe to work). I seared the chicken on the stove top for about 5 minutes even though the recipe calls for less. The chicken wasn't brown. It was that white color that I hate from my chicken so I kept it on there longer. All the while the broiler was on high. I put the chicken on a baking sheet and put them in the oven browned side up which at first confused me but it turned out wonderful in the end. 

The recipe says to cook it for 8 minutes on the broiler but I was afraid of undercooked chicken so I kept it there for about 12 minutes. Then I flipped the chicken breasts over and put them back on the broiler so the other side can get nice and crispy instead of soggy. The finished product was a moist chicken with a delightful filling that really made the dish something to remember. The pictures above really don't do it justice. Also, if you don't know how to make couscous you have problems. It's simple and easy and very tasty. 

Verdict: I was concerned about this dish at first but it came together easily. I would recommend this dish to my friends and family. 4 out of 5 stars.

Asparagus with balsamic Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

What's that? This looks a lot like my previous post? I have no idea what you are talking about. First off: New plating! The blue really pops doesn't it? All kidding aside this dish is a lot like my previous post with a modification or two. I took out the goat cheese and added pine nuts. Yeah, that's about it. If you're looking for something radically different Cooking Light has a nice recipe here but I had a half a carton of grape tomatoes in the fridge and I liked the taste of the asparagus last week that I couldn't resist. I also hate wasting food.

Verdict: Simple recipe and flavorful. I could eat a variation of this dish once a week this summer and I just might. 3 out of 5 stars. 

Cooking Light Test Kitchen: Scallions and Asparagus

My mission: To cook 5 recipes from Cooking Light Magazine each month.

I recently ordered a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine and I must say it's pretty awesome. There are about 10 recipes I will try in this months magazine. They also have a great website that lets you search all the recipes in the magazine. I seriously have no idea what they are thinking by doing this. Here are the first 2 dishes I prepared for the month of March:

Pasta Sauce

The Goods:

Olive Oil
3 Garlic cloves
1 large onion
Oregano
Basil
Salt & Pepper
2 8 oz Tomato Paste cans
2 16 oz Diced Tomato cans
2 28 oz Crushed Tomato cans
Garlic Powder
1/3 cup of Red Wine
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

The Recipe:

Everything in it's Wrong Place

How do I say this properly? Everything is amiss.

I know everything happens for a reason and life is what you make of it, but something is wrong. I made a mistake and it made the record that is my life skip.

How do I get this back on track? Will I ever? What am I doing? Take a deep breath. This is gonna be a bumpy ride of a blog.

It all started when I was 16 years old. I flirted with my first coworker. Ever since then it's been a slow decline to where I am today. Every job. Every opportunity has been littered with these sort of situations. I give out too much. I never know when to say when. And it slit my throat this time. Or bit me in the ass, which ever you prefer. I prefer the more drastic of situations. The extreme. Why? I guess it's all I really know. Push it to the limit. And I got burned by that. I gave out too much information (TMF for the kids). How do I get back? How do I skoot back and take a time out? Where do people learn that? therapy? I think everyone needs therapy. Everyone. But are there answers there? Or just more questions? That's what I found so annoying about therapy: there is no give and take. There is just give. And to open up right now is scary. I fell like everything I know is wrong and I need to unlearn all that I have learned. It's not unlike The Karate Kid.

What am I going to miraculously change my stripes mid life? I'm reminded back when I was younger: waking up in the morning right before the sun rose and jogging by the water. I'd see the sun rising over the water. The World Trade Center in the distance and me jogging along to whatever mix CD I put into my CD player (most likely the Days of Thunder soundtrack, don't judge me! I like my David Coverdale!). The joggers passing me by at first wouldn't even look at me as I passed by, but after a while they start to wave and smile. As if I'm part of their secret world. But, like everything in my life, it was not to be. I stopped getting up at 5:25am to go jogging and those people I would pass by every morning knew I wouldn't last. In the beginning they wouldn't even acknowledge me, but after a while when they were waving it wasn't, "Hello" but "Goodbye." There was something in their eyes. They knew I wouldn't last. I didn't. They knew it before I did. They have seen it before: Another young punk trying to exercise. Maybe for the Marathon, maybe because he's confused. He is just a passerby, not a participant in what I'm a part of.

Am I capable of changing? Do old habits die hard? I've been secretly stepping back in social situations. Taking a back seat, listening to to everything I would say to a group of people or a woman at wor and really thinking about what I was about to say. Examine it like I was a teacher. Red markings all over the place. The outcome? Isn't far off from the me everyone knows. Just better. More responsible. I just need to do that every second of my life.

What could possibly go wrong?